Computer users often carry portable computing devices with them such as notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and mobile telephones that include computing capabilities. Such users may at some point wish to print data from the portable computing device while remote from the user's work or home network. For instance, a mobile user may wish to print when at a coffee shop that provides network (e.g., Internet) access and printing services, or when staying at a hotel that comprises a hotel network that includes a public printing device.
In such public printing scenarios, it may be difficult for users, or those who deliver printed documents, to identify their documents once printed by a printing device, particularly in situations in which many different persons are using the printing device and therefore create many different documents. The identification process can be simplified by using banner pages that identify the user that sent each print job. In such a case, the host of the public printing system (e.g., coffee shop, hotel) may wish to customize such banner pages by, for example, placing the name of the host or advertisements/coupons on the banner pages. Although banner page customization can be easily accomplished by experienced programmers, such customization may be more difficult to achieve for less savvy users (including those persons who may administer the public printing system), particularly in view of the fact that the banner pages contain dynamic information such as a user identifier (e.g., user name) and, optionally, other information (e.g., date and time when the hardcopy document was printed).